The Vizio SB4551-D5 is a capable 5.1 surround system with a soundbar as its front three channels.

Many soundbars rely on surround sound-like effects to create room-filling audio that doesn't always convey an immersive, theater-like experience. Vizio's SB4551-D5 goes old-school and actually has five dedicated channels—left, center, right, rear left, and rear right—three of them just happen to be contained in a powerful soundbar. Sonically, the system is very impressive, especially for its relatively affordable $499.99 price (keep in mind you're getting a soundbar, subwoofer, and two rear channel speakers). We're not in love with the fact that the rear channels aren't wireless, but other than that this system is easy to recommend.

Design

While some manufacturers aim to keep the number of connected parts to a minimum, Vizio piles them on with the SB4551-D5. Unlike many soundbar systems, the main speaker, subwoofer, and dual rear channel speakers are all included in the baseline package. The Bose SoundTouch 300 costs more than the SB4551-D5, and that's before you add in the wireless sub and surround channel speakers, which more than double the price. The SB4551-D5's soundbar and sub pair with each other wirelessly, which is becoming more common, but the rear channels do not. Vizio calls the SB4551-D5 a 5.1 system, with the 2-by-2-by-45-inch (HWD) soundbar itself housing the left, right, and center channels, while the two rear channels connect to the subwoofer.

Connections for the soundbar can be found on two recessed areas on its rear panel. On one end, there are optical, coaxial, and 3.5mm connections, as well as the power cable connection—cables are provided for all of these inputs. On the other end, there's an HDMI ARC output, an HDMI input, an Ethernet connection, and a USB port. Beyond all this connectivity, you can also stream wirelessly via Bluetooth, as well as the Vizio SmartCast app (more on that in a moment). The top panel of the soundbar has buttons for power, source, Bluetooth pairing, and volume up and down. There's an LED display on the left side behind the speaker grille—white dots show you how the volume level, or how much the bass or treble is boosted. These LEDs also help you adjust speaker balance if you want to shift more audio into one speaker because it is slightly farther away.

Behind the grilles, the soundbar houses three 4-inch drivers for the left, right, and center channels. Inside the subwoofer, the driver is 8 inches in diameter. The 15.4-by-26.5-by-3.5-inch, 15.6-pound subwoofer is an interesting design piece—it's manufactured to either stand upright on screw-on feet that ship with the system, or sit flat underneath a sofa or large chair. Sitting flat, it certainly takes up a large footprint. However you place it, it needs to be fairly close to the listener, both for ideal audio performance and also so that the wired rear channel speakers have no issue connecting and receiving proper placement. To that end, however, Vizio has at least provided cables for each speaker that seem long enough to wrap around an large room. Connectivity on the sub is limited to the connections for the rear channel speakers and for its included power cable.

The rear speakers are fairly small, and ideally need to be elevated to ear level and equidistant from your preferred listening spot. The only graceful way for most people to do this will be to buy speaker stands—even Vizio shows them mounted on stands on its site. But they don't ship with these stands, and even though the subwoofer pairs wirelessly with the soundbar, the rear speakers require a wire, and another cable connects them. We don't have anything against cables, but since much of the system is already wireless, it seems reasonable to go all the way. And unless you're able to get creative, these cables will be quite visible, and seem like just the thing that pets will enjoy gnawing on from time to time.

The free Vizio app acts like a hub for your favorite audio streaming apps, and also as a basic way to control playback. Is it essential? No, and we found ourselves using the actual remote control (or our phone's controls, when paired via Bluetooth) more than anything else. But it works with Pandora, I Heart Radio, YouTube, Hulu, and various other apps and paid streaming services.

If you don't want to use the app, the included remote runs on two AAA batteries (included) and has controls for power, volume, mute, playback, track navigation, menu navigation, and a source button for switching between inputs. It also has a small LCD for menu navigation and switching between inputs. It's through the remote that you can also make adjustments to the treble and bass for the soundbar itself, as well as the subwoofer's overall level, and the balance and volume of the surround and center channels. You can also switch between Movie and Music listening modes.

Performance

This system gets incredibly loud. While watching Pacific Rim on Blu-ray, the SB4551-D5 sounds downright thunderous. The subwoofer can be adjusted to subtle levels or cranked up to the point that it will rattle the dishes in your kitchen, and the treble can be adjusted to match and provide balance. The rear satellites do a great job of transmitting surround audio, and the entire listening experience is quite immersive. We recommend leaving TruSound off—this limits louder noises and boosts quieter sounds to normalize the dynamics—there's little need for it.

The Casino Royale Blu-ray also showcases the 5.1 system's might. The dialogue is clear and bright, and although most scenes in this movie pack a little less bass rumble than Pacific Rim, it's still quite possible to get some extra push out of the various gunshots and punches, not to mention the film score. Playing with subwoofer levels here helps, but we recommend increasing the treble incrementally with the bass so as not to lose overall balance. Generally speaking, the SB4551-D5 offers a rewarding film listening experience, and its parameters are highly adjustable to suit your tastes and the acoustics of your room.W

While listening over Bluetooth in Music mode with Surround turned off, the system delivers a solid audio experience. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the subwoofer can be made to produce some incredibly powerful low-end. This system can get insanely loud—like, neighbors-calling-the-police loud—and we never at any point experienced distortion, which is impressive.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the SB4551-D5's overall sound signature. It's important to remember you have a separate subwoofer volume to play with, as well as treble and bass for the soundbar. Of course, there are so many possibilities for a sound signature here, it's less about how the SB4551-D5 sounds and more about how you can make it sound. The best sound we dialed up for music was with the soundbar's bass levels boosted slightly higher than its treble settings, giving things more richness. Once you have the soundbar set, adding in the subwoofer will round out the kick drum's thuds and deeper bass elements of the mix. On the Callahan track, these settings produce a full-sounding drum kit, rich baritone vocals, and a crisp, bright guitar attack.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the same settings yield solid clarity, highlighting the kick drum loop's sharp attack by giving it some added treble edge in the high-mids, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto. And if you blast the sub on this track, you might rattle some frames off the walls. Bass lovers will not be disappointed.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, also benefit from the settings we dialed up. There's solid clarity and brightness for the higher register brass, strings, and vocals, and the sub brings out the rounder elements of the lower register instrumentation, providing a little added oomph whenever there is actually some deep low-end in the mix.

Conclusions

With the SB4551-D5, Vizio gives you the tools to fine-tune the audio to your liking, creating the opportunity for crisp, clear sound signatures or bass-heavy, thunderous ones. We're not in love with the rear speaker wires, but for the price, it's hard to complain too much—this entire system costs less than the soundbar portion of Bose's SoundTouch 300. In this range, we're also fans of the LG SJ7, which can be used as a soundbar or as a stereo pair (with subwoofer), and the Sony HT-NT5, a two-piece system equipped with Google Cast and 4K HDMI passthrough . Overall, though, it's easy to forget about the SB4551-D5's rear speaker wires when it's all hooked up and your movies sound amazing.

Vizio SB4551-D5

Vizio SB4551-D5

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